1 00:00:02,152 --> 00:00:05,155 Psalm 136. 2 00:00:05,755 --> 00:00:08,575 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. 3 00:00:08,575 --> 00:00:11,578 For his steadfast love endures forever. 4 00:00:11,878 --> 00:00:16,883 Give thanks to the God of gods for his steadfast love endures forever. 5 00:00:17,300 --> 00:00:19,319 Give thanks to the Lord of Lords. 6 00:00:19,319 --> 00:00:22,922 For his steadfast love endures forever. 7 00:00:23,339 --> 00:00:25,909 To him who alone does great wonders. 8 00:00:25,909 --> 00:00:29,029 For his steadfast love endures forever. 9 00:00:29,462 --> 00:00:32,699 To him who by understanding made the heavens, 10 00:00:32,882 --> 00:00:36,052 for his steadfast love endures forever. 11 00:00:36,469 --> 00:00:39,723 To him who spread out the earth above the waters. 12 00:00:39,956 --> 00:00:43,560 For his steadfast love endures forever. 13 00:00:44,094 --> 00:00:46,579 To him who made the great lights. 14 00:00:46,579 --> 00:00:49,916 For his steadfast love endures forever. 15 00:00:50,450 --> 00:00:52,585 The sun to rule over the day. 16 00:00:52,585 --> 00:00:55,588 For his steadfast love endures forever. 17 00:00:55,939 --> 00:00:58,758 The moon and stars to rule over the night. 18 00:00:58,758 --> 00:01:02,028 For his steadfast love endures forever. 19 00:01:02,512 --> 00:01:05,515 To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt. 20 00:01:05,598 --> 00:01:08,935 For his steadfast love endures forever. 21 00:01:09,419 --> 00:01:12,422 And brought Israel out from among them. 22 00:01:12,589 --> 00:01:15,592 For his steadfast love endures forever. 23 00:01:16,009 --> 00:01:19,012 With the strong hand and an outstretched arm. 24 00:01:19,496 --> 00:01:22,499 His steadfast love endures forever. 25 00:01:22,582 --> 00:01:25,585 To him who divided the Red sea in two. 26 00:01:25,919 --> 00:01:29,222 For his steadfast love endures forever. 27 00:01:29,672 --> 00:01:32,659 And made Israel pass through the midst of it. 28 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:36,362 For his steadfast love endures forever. 29 00:01:36,930 --> 00:01:40,700 But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea. 30 00:01:40,967 --> 00:01:43,970 For his steadfast love endures forever. 31 00:01:44,454 --> 00:01:47,457 To him who led his people through the wilderness. 32 00:01:47,490 --> 00:01:51,027 For his steadfast love endures forever. 33 00:01:51,511 --> 00:01:53,997 To him who struck down great kings. 34 00:01:53,997 --> 00:01:57,200 For his steadfast love endures forever. 35 00:01:57,867 --> 00:01:59,786 And killed mighty kings. 36 00:01:59,786 --> 00:02:02,789 For his steadfast love endures forever. 37 00:02:02,906 --> 00:02:05,341 Sihon, king of the Amorites. 38 00:02:05,341 --> 00:02:08,461 For his steadfast love endures forever. 39 00:02:08,695 --> 00:02:10,880 And og, king of Bashan. 40 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:13,883 For his steadfast love endures forever. 41 00:02:14,117 --> 00:02:16,252 And gave their land as heritage. 42 00:02:16,252 --> 00:02:19,255 For his steadfast love endures forever. 43 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:22,292 A heritage to Israel, his servant. 44 00:02:22,292 --> 00:02:25,378 For his steadfast love endures forever. 45 00:02:25,728 --> 00:02:28,731 It is he who remembered us in our lowest state. 46 00:02:29,098 --> 00:02:32,101 For his steadfast love endures forever. 47 00:02:32,569 --> 00:02:34,938 And rescued us from our foes. 48 00:02:34,938 --> 00:02:37,941 For his steadfast love endures forever. 49 00:02:38,341 --> 00:02:40,860 He who gives food to all flesh. 50 00:02:40,860 --> 00:02:43,847 For his steadfast love endures forever. 51 00:02:44,147 --> 00:02:46,132 Give thanks to the God of heaven. 52 00:02:46,132 --> 00:02:49,802 For his steadfast love endures forever. 53 00:02:52,789 --> 00:02:53,089 Well, good 54 00:02:53,089 --> 00:02:56,209 morning and welcome everyone to Christ Community Chapel. 55 00:02:56,242 --> 00:02:58,411 My name is Mike, one of our pastors here. 56 00:02:58,411 --> 00:02:59,579 Really glad to be with you. 57 00:02:59,579 --> 00:03:02,582 Hope you had a really wonderful Thanksgiving. 58 00:03:02,882 --> 00:03:07,370 Next weekend we kick off our advent, our Christmas series, which will be wonderful. 59 00:03:07,921 --> 00:03:10,423 This week we're just going to pause on Thanksgiving weekend. 60 00:03:10,423 --> 00:03:13,643 Just ask the question, hey, what does it mean to be grateful? 61 00:03:14,127 --> 00:03:18,198 How exactly do become people full of more Thanksgiving? 62 00:03:18,781 --> 00:03:22,969 And part of that comes from a story Jesus tells in the Gospel of Luke. 63 00:03:23,519 --> 00:03:27,774 In the Gospel of Luke, there's a story where Jesus will heal ten lepers, 64 00:03:28,224 --> 00:03:31,561 and leprosy was a terminal skin condition. 65 00:03:32,011 --> 00:03:36,232 So ten people literally marching their way slowly to death. 66 00:03:36,833 --> 00:03:39,836 And Jesus in his grace, and Jesus 67 00:03:39,869 --> 00:03:43,590 in his power as he has a habit of doing, heals them 68 00:03:43,590 --> 00:03:48,928 completely, changes their life forever with just one word. 69 00:03:49,579 --> 00:03:52,015 Ten people are completely healed 70 00:03:52,015 --> 00:03:56,152 and we learn one out of the ten came back to say thank you. 71 00:03:56,636 --> 00:03:59,188 Nine kept going, right. 72 00:03:59,188 --> 00:04:01,407 Jesus is putting something. 73 00:04:01,407 --> 00:04:04,761 On our attention, putting his finger on something in each of our hearts 74 00:04:04,761 --> 00:04:10,466 that two words thank you often seem like too much, right? 75 00:04:10,466 --> 00:04:13,770 If this math plays out, and I think that it does 10% of you 76 00:04:13,770 --> 00:04:17,540 in this room, you have gratitude down, right? 77 00:04:17,540 --> 00:04:18,725 So congratulations. 78 00:04:18,725 --> 00:04:21,728 You can tune me out for the next 20 or so minutes. 79 00:04:22,161 --> 00:04:25,164 90% of us, myself included. 80 00:04:25,198 --> 00:04:27,750 Gratitude is a struggle. 81 00:04:27,750 --> 00:04:29,786 I've been thinking, why is that? 82 00:04:29,786 --> 00:04:33,356 Why are two words sometimes just too much? 83 00:04:33,356 --> 00:04:35,458 It'd be easy to blame the snow, right? 84 00:04:35,458 --> 00:04:38,544 I don't know when we went from November to February, but we did. 85 00:04:38,878 --> 00:04:42,332 And, here we find ourselves in the middle of winter. 86 00:04:42,982 --> 00:04:45,618 Why is gratitude so hard? 87 00:04:45,618 --> 00:04:47,303 Could it be our culture? Right? 88 00:04:47,303 --> 00:04:51,491 It seems like Black Friday extends itself every year from one day to two days 89 00:04:51,491 --> 00:04:55,428 to probably the whole season, telling us again and again and again, you 90 00:04:55,795 --> 00:04:58,915 you don't have enough, right? You need more. 91 00:04:58,915 --> 00:05:03,303 Hard to be grateful when you hear all the time, hey, you need more. 92 00:05:03,903 --> 00:05:05,938 It could be because of social media. 93 00:05:05,938 --> 00:05:10,143 You can see all around you someone who has a little bit of a better life. 94 00:05:10,143 --> 00:05:14,130 At least appears to be a little bit of a better life than you. 95 00:05:14,213 --> 00:05:16,916 Someone has something that you desperately want, even today. 96 00:05:16,916 --> 00:05:20,370 Hard to be grateful when someone has what you want. 97 00:05:20,853 --> 00:05:22,522 Could be a lot of factors, right? 98 00:05:22,522 --> 00:05:25,491 Some of you might say it's it's actually simpler than that, right? 99 00:05:25,491 --> 00:05:27,627 It's not about Black Friday. It's not about the snow. 100 00:05:27,627 --> 00:05:29,178 It's not about anything else. 101 00:05:29,178 --> 00:05:33,933 If you knew my life right now, if you knew my situation and my story, 102 00:05:34,250 --> 00:05:36,619 the way my health is, where my family is, 103 00:05:36,619 --> 00:05:39,622 my finances, my job, all the things you would say I just. 104 00:05:40,039 --> 00:05:43,042 I don't have much to be grateful for. 105 00:05:43,142 --> 00:05:47,430 There's a lot of factors, a lot of reasons why we can struggle with gratitude. 106 00:05:47,430 --> 00:05:51,234 In Psalm 136, our passage today gives us a different reason. 107 00:05:51,617 --> 00:05:55,772 It suggests to us a different problem for why we struggle with gratitude. 108 00:05:55,772 --> 00:05:58,758 I put it this way you'll see it on the screen. 109 00:05:59,392 --> 00:06:00,827 It says it's our struggle with gratitude. 110 00:06:00,827 --> 00:06:05,298 We look too much at what we have or don't have in this life. 111 00:06:05,298 --> 00:06:08,568 We look around us too much and we look too little. 112 00:06:08,568 --> 00:06:11,971 And what we have and can never lose in God. 113 00:06:12,538 --> 00:06:15,475 The struggle with gratitude is where our attention is. 114 00:06:15,475 --> 00:06:17,577 It's where our focus might be. 115 00:06:17,577 --> 00:06:20,963 We look too much what we have or don't have in this life, 116 00:06:21,330 --> 00:06:25,802 and we look too little and what we have and can never lose in God. 117 00:06:26,069 --> 00:06:29,906 And so Psalm 136 is going to lead us to change our focus, 118 00:06:30,206 --> 00:06:33,393 to redirect our attention even today, to do three things 119 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:38,848 to look up, to look back and to look ahead. 120 00:06:38,848 --> 00:06:39,982 That's how this Psalm is. 121 00:06:39,982 --> 00:06:43,219 Even divide it up verses one through four. 122 00:06:43,436 --> 00:06:47,090 We're going to look up verses five through 25. 123 00:06:47,090 --> 00:06:48,891 We're going to look back. 124 00:06:48,891 --> 00:06:53,062 And then verses 26 we are going to look ahead. 125 00:06:53,479 --> 00:06:57,183 And so if you are here and you're looking for more Thanksgiving, 126 00:06:57,767 --> 00:07:01,137 looking to be a person marked by a deeper gratitude, 127 00:07:01,137 --> 00:07:05,725 then these are the three things Psalm 136 leads us to do. 128 00:07:05,725 --> 00:07:07,877 Let's start with look up. 129 00:07:07,877 --> 00:07:10,847 Look up begins in the first four verses of this Psalm. 130 00:07:10,847 --> 00:07:12,799 Let me reread them for us 131 00:07:13,950 --> 00:07:16,068 says, give thanks to the Lord, 132 00:07:16,068 --> 00:07:20,156 for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. 133 00:07:20,156 --> 00:07:24,143 Give thanks to the God of God for his steadfast love endures forever. 134 00:07:24,143 --> 00:07:27,747 Give thanks to the Lord of Lords, for his steadfast love endures forever. 135 00:07:28,231 --> 00:07:32,869 To him alone who does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever. 136 00:07:33,119 --> 00:07:36,889 Three times give thanks, give thanks, give thanks. 137 00:07:36,923 --> 00:07:39,542 Calling us to gratitude. 138 00:07:39,542 --> 00:07:42,328 But notice what the psalmist is directing us towards. 139 00:07:42,328 --> 00:07:43,763 Give thanks to the God of God. 140 00:07:43,763 --> 00:07:48,000 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, and give thanks to God. 141 00:07:48,468 --> 00:07:49,735 And for what? 142 00:07:49,735 --> 00:07:49,969 Right? 143 00:07:49,969 --> 00:07:52,288 It's different than how I might approach you. 144 00:07:52,288 --> 00:07:54,140 Maybe you gathered with your family or friends 145 00:07:54,140 --> 00:07:57,360 this Thanksgiving and you shared what you are thankful for. 146 00:07:57,360 --> 00:07:59,011 All the reasons, right? 147 00:07:59,011 --> 00:08:02,098 Thankful for family or friends or, the Buckeyes 148 00:08:02,098 --> 00:08:05,151 win all the things that we, want to celebrate this weekend. 149 00:08:05,151 --> 00:08:08,821 I'm Iowa Hawkeye fan, so I'm very thankful that as Iowa Hawkeyes 150 00:08:08,838 --> 00:08:11,908 and we reached eight wins, which is a big deal if you're an Iowa 151 00:08:11,908 --> 00:08:14,911 Hawkeye fan, might not be a big deal if you're a Buckeyes fan. 152 00:08:14,927 --> 00:08:17,847 We give thanks for circumstances, right? 153 00:08:17,847 --> 00:08:21,384 And lots of circumstances that we can be grateful for. 154 00:08:21,384 --> 00:08:23,903 But that's not what the psalmist is grateful for. 155 00:08:23,903 --> 00:08:25,338 He's giving thanks to God. 156 00:08:25,338 --> 00:08:25,738 He's giving 157 00:08:25,738 --> 00:08:30,643 thanks for his character, right circumstances as they can change, right? 158 00:08:30,660 --> 00:08:31,677 Your health can change. 159 00:08:31,677 --> 00:08:33,296 Finances can change, right? 160 00:08:33,296 --> 00:08:36,032 Sports circumstances can change all the time. 161 00:08:36,032 --> 00:08:40,503 But the psalmist is giving thanks, giving thanks to God and for his character, 162 00:08:40,820 --> 00:08:42,171 not circumstance. 163 00:08:42,171 --> 00:08:44,490 Two things highlighted in Psalm 136. 164 00:08:44,490 --> 00:08:46,375 The first couple of verses. Right? 165 00:08:46,375 --> 00:08:48,477 When you think about God and you think about his character, 166 00:08:48,477 --> 00:08:51,631 the psalmist gives us two words to lean into, right? 167 00:08:51,631 --> 00:08:55,468 The goodness of God and then the steadfast love of God. 168 00:08:55,468 --> 00:08:58,404 You see that in the first three verses, God's goodness 169 00:08:58,404 --> 00:09:01,407 and then his steadfast love. 170 00:09:01,707 --> 00:09:05,478 And so first we give thanks to God, because God is good 171 00:09:06,529 --> 00:09:09,265 at the core of the personality and the character of God. 172 00:09:09,265 --> 00:09:11,751 God is good. 173 00:09:11,751 --> 00:09:15,238 It almost seems like too weak of a word, right? 174 00:09:15,238 --> 00:09:17,890 Like if someone were to ask you, hey, how was your Thanksgiving weekend? 175 00:09:17,890 --> 00:09:20,660 And then you said, yeah, it was good. 176 00:09:20,660 --> 00:09:24,030 You would say, hey, I liked it, but it probably could have been 177 00:09:24,380 --> 00:09:25,798 a little bit better, right? 178 00:09:25,798 --> 00:09:29,752 We use goodness and it implies a little bit of imperfection. 179 00:09:30,469 --> 00:09:33,539 But when the Bible uses the term, goodness about God implies 180 00:09:34,023 --> 00:09:35,725 no imperfection, right? 181 00:09:35,725 --> 00:09:39,111 Goodness in its purest form, a perfect goodness, 182 00:09:39,111 --> 00:09:43,282 a pure goodness without stain or sin or flaw. 183 00:09:43,499 --> 00:09:45,868 No bad days, no bad moods. 184 00:09:45,868 --> 00:09:48,804 God is perfectly good. 185 00:09:48,804 --> 00:09:51,807 He can do no wrong to you. 186 00:09:52,074 --> 00:09:56,629 We give thanks because God is good the second we give thanks. 187 00:09:56,629 --> 00:09:59,632 Because God is love, right? You can't. 188 00:09:59,749 --> 00:10:00,483 You can't miss it. 189 00:10:00,483 --> 00:10:01,200 In this Psalm, 190 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:05,721 even in the in the reading of it, the phrase steadfast love repeats again 191 00:10:05,721 --> 00:10:09,175 and again and again 26 times in 26 192 00:10:09,475 --> 00:10:13,162 verses, wanting us not to miss one central thing 193 00:10:13,162 --> 00:10:17,566 about the character of God that God is a God of love. 194 00:10:18,301 --> 00:10:21,420 It's a steadfast love, a strong 195 00:10:21,420 --> 00:10:24,507 love, a heavy duty love. 196 00:10:26,042 --> 00:10:28,227 This past summer, I went 197 00:10:28,227 --> 00:10:30,713 to the beach with my family, and there was one night that we went out 198 00:10:30,713 --> 00:10:35,251 to watch the sunset and the sun was just kind of going over the water. 199 00:10:35,251 --> 00:10:36,569 Just beautiful, right? 200 00:10:36,569 --> 00:10:39,889 If you've been there, colors are just popping and it was great. 201 00:10:39,889 --> 00:10:41,841 Except for the bugs, right? 202 00:10:41,841 --> 00:10:45,811 The bugs were were awful and so bad that it kept our heads down. 203 00:10:45,861 --> 00:10:46,128 Right. 204 00:10:46,128 --> 00:10:50,599 So the sunset is here and our heads are down because of the bugs. 205 00:10:51,083 --> 00:10:52,618 And so we missed it, right? 206 00:10:52,618 --> 00:10:56,605 We couldn't look up because of how we were distracted by the bugs. 207 00:10:56,605 --> 00:10:58,591 And on some level, 208 00:10:58,591 --> 00:11:03,295 the color combination of God's character, his goodness and love is meant 209 00:11:03,295 --> 00:11:09,502 to overwhelm us, to stun us in its beauty and its perfection and its glory. 210 00:11:09,502 --> 00:11:12,922 But life has a way of keeping our head down, right? 211 00:11:12,922 --> 00:11:16,826 Bugs just seem to be everywhere, especially at this time of year. 212 00:11:16,826 --> 00:11:18,894 Schedules are full of things to do, 213 00:11:18,894 --> 00:11:22,998 presents to buy all the things, and our heads just are down. 214 00:11:23,215 --> 00:11:26,035 In Psalm 136 just says, look up. 215 00:11:26,035 --> 00:11:28,320 Let me take care of the bugs, just for a moment, 216 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,290 so you could look up and see the goodness and the splendor 217 00:11:31,290 --> 00:11:34,293 and the perfection of the character of God. 218 00:11:34,610 --> 00:11:39,231 For the goodness of God is perfect, and the love of God is strong. 219 00:11:39,231 --> 00:11:42,234 We give thanks for the character of God. 220 00:11:42,568 --> 00:11:45,871 Second, gratitude flows from looking back. 221 00:11:45,871 --> 00:11:47,273 We look up and see his character. 222 00:11:47,273 --> 00:11:50,159 We look back and we see God's story. 223 00:11:51,327 --> 00:11:53,462 Maybe a week or two ago, 224 00:11:53,462 --> 00:11:56,449 I stumble across an old high school photo of mine. 225 00:11:56,665 --> 00:12:00,920 And, if you are a fan of Home Alone, it was a buzz your girlfriend, Wolf, 226 00:12:01,704 --> 00:12:02,722 kind of moment. 227 00:12:02,722 --> 00:12:06,442 I was ninth grade on the soccer team, and I was trying 228 00:12:06,442 --> 00:12:10,196 to be a tough ninth grader, which doesn't work well for me now. 229 00:12:10,196 --> 00:12:12,114 And didn't work well then, right? 230 00:12:12,114 --> 00:12:16,168 I was 15 going on nine, which is pretty much how I look right now. 231 00:12:16,168 --> 00:12:19,171 So it wasn't great. 232 00:12:19,672 --> 00:12:21,390 My guess is if you have pictures 233 00:12:21,390 --> 00:12:24,376 that you look back on, you realize they're not that great. 234 00:12:24,527 --> 00:12:26,462 You have a wolf kind of moment 235 00:12:26,462 --> 00:12:30,116 and you are so glad, like I am, that I have changed, right? 236 00:12:30,116 --> 00:12:32,568 You dress differently, you look differently, your hair differently. 237 00:12:32,568 --> 00:12:33,869 All the things right. 238 00:12:33,869 --> 00:12:37,223 To be human is to look back on yourself and to be so, 239 00:12:37,223 --> 00:12:40,226 so thankful that you have changed. 240 00:12:40,409 --> 00:12:44,246 In Psalm 136, we're going to look back on old pictures of God 241 00:12:44,730 --> 00:12:48,901 and be so, so glad that he has stayed the same. 242 00:12:49,518 --> 00:12:53,789 In this psalm we see three pictures and then I'm going to add a fourth. 243 00:12:53,973 --> 00:12:57,343 We're going to go back in the photo album of God and see three old pictures. 244 00:12:57,343 --> 00:13:00,229 Then I'm going to add a fourth picture. 245 00:13:00,229 --> 00:13:03,415 The first picture that we see is the picture of creation. 246 00:13:04,099 --> 00:13:05,484 It's in verses five through nine. 247 00:13:05,484 --> 00:13:09,138 I'm going to read one snapshot for us, verses five and six. 248 00:13:09,622 --> 00:13:12,174 It says to him who by understanding 249 00:13:12,174 --> 00:13:16,128 made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever. 250 00:13:16,128 --> 00:13:20,216 To him who made the great light, for his steadfast love endures forever. 251 00:13:20,216 --> 00:13:22,818 To him who spread out the earth above the waters, 252 00:13:22,818 --> 00:13:25,821 for his steadfast love endures forever. 253 00:13:26,305 --> 00:13:29,608 When you go back to the beginning and you go back to creation, 254 00:13:30,109 --> 00:13:32,878 you see that in the beginning there was God, right? 255 00:13:32,878 --> 00:13:36,031 The Bible holds out that the world didn't happen by accident. 256 00:13:36,031 --> 00:13:40,019 But God is the creator and the maker of everything, 257 00:13:40,469 --> 00:13:44,373 including you made the sun and the moon, the stars and the night, 258 00:13:44,790 --> 00:13:46,609 the mountains and the rivers, the valleys. 259 00:13:46,609 --> 00:13:48,511 God made everything. 260 00:13:48,511 --> 00:13:52,047 And we can talk a lot about how God is the Creator and Maker of everything. 261 00:13:52,047 --> 00:13:55,968 But one thing that struck me the furthest back that you can go. 262 00:13:56,068 --> 00:13:57,419 Page one. 263 00:13:57,419 --> 00:13:58,704 Sentence one. 264 00:13:58,704 --> 00:14:01,307 You see God in the beginning, and in the beginning you notice 265 00:14:01,307 --> 00:14:05,394 one thing in the picture the steadfast love of God. 266 00:14:06,028 --> 00:14:09,415 The first picture of creation shows the steadfast love of God. 267 00:14:09,415 --> 00:14:12,084 The second picture is the one of Exodus. 268 00:14:12,084 --> 00:14:14,687 Look with me. Verses ten and 11. 269 00:14:15,738 --> 00:14:17,239 It says this 270 00:14:17,239 --> 00:14:17,940 to him who 271 00:14:17,940 --> 00:14:22,645 struck down the firstborn of Egypt, for his steadfast love endures forever, 272 00:14:22,645 --> 00:14:27,499 and brought Israel out from among them, for his steadfast love endures forever. 273 00:14:27,650 --> 00:14:31,470 The story of the axis is this amazing story in the second book of the Bible 274 00:14:31,470 --> 00:14:35,658 called Exodus, God's people Israel, are enslaved in Egypt. 275 00:14:36,175 --> 00:14:39,778 They've been suffering and enslaved for 400 years. 276 00:14:40,312 --> 00:14:44,817 And then God raises up Moses to rescue them, to free them. 277 00:14:45,267 --> 00:14:46,468 And how he does it does. 278 00:14:46,468 --> 00:14:52,041 It is through, this verse to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt. 279 00:14:52,491 --> 00:14:56,061 You see, God rescued his people through judgment 280 00:14:56,579 --> 00:15:00,933 and through sacrifice, which is how God's rescue always works. 281 00:15:01,100 --> 00:15:02,451 He rescues through judgment. 282 00:15:02,451 --> 00:15:04,787 He rescues through sacrifice. He. 283 00:15:04,787 --> 00:15:07,373 There was a night where God came and told his people 284 00:15:08,691 --> 00:15:08,991 that I'm 285 00:15:08,991 --> 00:15:12,828 going to strike down every firstborn in Egypt, 286 00:15:12,828 --> 00:15:17,249 which is simply terrifying in my judgment, for their sin. 287 00:15:17,249 --> 00:15:20,252 In my rebellion, I'm going to strike down every firstborn. 288 00:15:20,452 --> 00:15:25,307 What I want for you to do is to sacrifice a perfect animal, 289 00:15:26,158 --> 00:15:29,995 place the blood of the lamb over your door, 290 00:15:30,512 --> 00:15:34,249 and when I pass through that night, I will pass over 291 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:37,803 every single house that has blood on the door. 292 00:15:37,937 --> 00:15:42,174 My judgment will pass over them, and my judgment will land. 293 00:15:42,992 --> 00:15:46,195 It will land on every house without the blood. 294 00:15:47,129 --> 00:15:49,498 That's exactly what happened. 295 00:15:49,498 --> 00:15:51,050 I was part of God's rescue. 296 00:15:51,050 --> 00:15:54,053 This is a bit of a side tangent, but if you ever wonder 297 00:15:54,837 --> 00:15:58,073 where is the safe place to go from the judgment of God? 298 00:15:58,741 --> 00:16:01,644 The story of the scriptures says there's one thing. 299 00:16:01,644 --> 00:16:05,814 There's one place you can find shelter underneath the blood of the lamb. 300 00:16:06,231 --> 00:16:09,234 And we'll get back to that in a minute. 301 00:16:09,351 --> 00:16:13,038 But we see here in creation, love is from the beginning, 302 00:16:14,223 --> 00:16:15,290 in Exodus and God's 303 00:16:15,290 --> 00:16:18,293 rescue of his people in their suffering. 304 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,347 It was the steadfast love of God again. 305 00:16:21,530 --> 00:16:25,250 And then the third picture we see is of the Promised Land, right? 306 00:16:25,250 --> 00:16:28,537 Creation, Exodus, and now the Promised Land. 307 00:16:28,554 --> 00:16:33,058 He, God, is moving his people from Egypt, and he's taken them to a new home, 308 00:16:33,058 --> 00:16:36,478 a new place, a new place to be the promised land. 309 00:16:36,895 --> 00:16:39,948 And it sounds wonderful, but the journey there was not so simple. 310 00:16:40,582 --> 00:16:43,285 It was not so simple for two reasons. 311 00:16:43,285 --> 00:16:46,321 The first reason the move or the transition from Egypt 312 00:16:46,488 --> 00:16:49,558 to the promised land was not simple is because of the people. 313 00:16:50,342 --> 00:16:52,945 When you read the stories, you will see that they are 314 00:16:52,945 --> 00:16:56,882 grumpy and whining and complaining, and it's the sin of the people 315 00:16:57,116 --> 00:17:00,769 that gives them 40 years in the wilderness. 316 00:17:00,769 --> 00:17:02,604 They just don't trust God. 317 00:17:02,604 --> 00:17:04,740 They just don't believe in God. 318 00:17:04,740 --> 00:17:06,175 They just don't want to follow God. 319 00:17:07,159 --> 00:17:09,445 And the second reason why the journey is not so simple 320 00:17:09,445 --> 00:17:14,550 is because the enemies against God's people, it's their sin is the first, 321 00:17:14,550 --> 00:17:17,569 and then it's the enemies of God's people, which is the second. 322 00:17:17,986 --> 00:17:19,071 I'm not sure if you noticed this, 323 00:17:19,071 --> 00:17:22,741 but there's a lot of kings and rulers named in this song. 324 00:17:23,242 --> 00:17:24,660 Let me show you. 325 00:17:24,660 --> 00:17:30,049 Starting in verse 17, we see kings mentioned to him who struck down 326 00:17:30,049 --> 00:17:36,722 great kings and killed mighty kings, and then calls them out by name. 327 00:17:36,722 --> 00:17:37,473 Verse 19. 328 00:17:37,473 --> 00:17:42,961 Sihon king of the Amorites, and OG king of Bashan. 329 00:17:43,378 --> 00:17:43,612 Right. 330 00:17:43,612 --> 00:17:48,150 You see this list of kings, list of people who are trying to thwart God's people. 331 00:17:48,150 --> 00:17:50,602 Stop what God is doing. 332 00:17:50,602 --> 00:17:51,987 Right on some level. 333 00:17:51,987 --> 00:17:54,056 If you are an Israelite, if you are God's people 334 00:17:54,056 --> 00:17:57,109 listening to this Psalm, you would have stories that would take 335 00:17:57,109 --> 00:18:01,313 you back to the moment where you recognize that these were actual threats to us. 336 00:18:01,914 --> 00:18:04,016 We were facing legitimate danger. 337 00:18:04,016 --> 00:18:07,136 There was fear because these kings were present. 338 00:18:08,337 --> 00:18:11,306 And what the Psalm reminds is that each time a threat came, 339 00:18:11,306 --> 00:18:16,762 each time a new enemy presented itself against God's people, it was the steadfast 340 00:18:16,762 --> 00:18:21,617 love of God that led them in triumph, that God was the victor. 341 00:18:21,834 --> 00:18:26,155 Time and time again, three pictures and two things we just can't miss. 342 00:18:26,371 --> 00:18:29,158 When you read through Psalm 136. 343 00:18:29,158 --> 00:18:33,212 First, you can't miss what God's steadfast love has done. 344 00:18:33,829 --> 00:18:37,166 It was his love that gave life in creation. 345 00:18:37,766 --> 00:18:41,303 It was his love that rescued in the Exodus, 346 00:18:41,303 --> 00:18:45,090 and it was his love that triumphed in the Promised Land. 347 00:18:45,891 --> 00:18:48,210 We can't miss what his love did, and 348 00:18:48,210 --> 00:18:51,213 we can't miss what his love endured. 349 00:18:51,446 --> 00:18:55,517 That his love endured, the suffering of his people in Egypt, 350 00:18:55,968 --> 00:18:59,221 his love endured the sin of his people in the wilderness, 351 00:18:59,388 --> 00:19:04,860 and his love endured the enemies of God's people on the way to the Promised Land. 352 00:19:05,611 --> 00:19:08,847 And this takes me to my fourth picture, right? 353 00:19:08,881 --> 00:19:11,400 Because the story doesn't end with the Promised Land. 354 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:15,804 The Bible story moves to one climactic masterpiece of a picture 355 00:19:15,804 --> 00:19:20,609 where we see the steadfast love of God again in a beautiful, grand way. 356 00:19:20,609 --> 00:19:25,347 All these themes coming together, which, of course, is the cross of Jesus, 357 00:19:25,881 --> 00:19:28,851 because there was a moment in human history where a Jewish 358 00:19:28,851 --> 00:19:32,671 man named Jesus, the Son of God, was led up to a cross 359 00:19:32,671 --> 00:19:36,558 just outside the city of Jerusalem, crucified by God's enemies. 360 00:19:36,558 --> 00:19:37,609 The Roman soldiers. 361 00:19:38,577 --> 00:19:39,962 And three days later, God 362 00:19:39,962 --> 00:19:44,132 rose him from the dead and mean, you look back on the cross. 363 00:19:44,132 --> 00:19:48,003 There's two things that we can't miss about the steadfast love of God. 364 00:19:48,003 --> 00:19:53,192 That at the cross, this is where new life is given through the death of his son. 365 00:19:53,192 --> 00:19:57,829 That's why the Bible calls Christians literally new creations. 366 00:19:58,347 --> 00:20:01,466 The steadfast love of God at the cross rescued us 367 00:20:01,466 --> 00:20:04,469 through judgment and through sacrifice. 368 00:20:04,970 --> 00:20:05,237 Right? 369 00:20:05,237 --> 00:20:08,240 It was Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God. 370 00:20:08,807 --> 00:20:11,093 The judgment did not pass over him, 371 00:20:11,093 --> 00:20:14,763 so it would pass over all who took shelter under him. 372 00:20:15,180 --> 00:20:20,419 And it was God's love who triumphed on the cross over sin and Satan and death. 373 00:20:20,702 --> 00:20:25,307 How great is the steadfast love of God, gives life and creation 374 00:20:25,307 --> 00:20:30,362 endures our sin, our suffering, our enemies, and endures the cross. 375 00:20:31,413 --> 00:20:34,733 Gratitude comes from looking up at the character of God, 376 00:20:34,733 --> 00:20:37,803 looking back at the actions of God, and then looking ahead 377 00:20:38,303 --> 00:20:41,073 in our own stories. 378 00:20:41,073 --> 00:20:44,059 Forrest Gump is a classic movie, 379 00:20:44,092 --> 00:20:47,462 came out in the mid 90s, which seems like a long time ago already. 380 00:20:48,030 --> 00:20:51,900 It stars Tom Hanks playing this quirky man named Forrest Gump. 381 00:20:52,351 --> 00:20:55,637 And if you've seen this movie, you recognize he just he finds himself in 382 00:20:55,637 --> 00:20:59,157 just extraordinary circumstances time and time again. 383 00:21:00,242 --> 00:21:03,228 And at one point in the movie, he decides to go for a run 384 00:21:03,445 --> 00:21:04,563 and doesn't have a great plan. 385 00:21:04,563 --> 00:21:06,448 He decides he's going to go for a run, 386 00:21:06,448 --> 00:21:10,285 and he just keeps running and running and running and running. 387 00:21:10,652 --> 00:21:14,489 And he ends up running for three years, two months, 388 00:21:14,957 --> 00:21:18,527 14 days and 16 hours. 389 00:21:19,311 --> 00:21:22,397 And then he stops, he says, I think I'm pretty tired now. 390 00:21:23,598 --> 00:21:26,184 I think I'll go home. 391 00:21:26,184 --> 00:21:28,553 And on some level, I wonder how many of us view 392 00:21:28,553 --> 00:21:31,556 God's love in a similar way. 393 00:21:32,090 --> 00:21:34,443 At some point, we're just waiting God to stay. 394 00:21:34,443 --> 00:21:36,962 I'm pretty tired right now. 395 00:21:36,962 --> 00:21:39,948 I'm pretty tired of you right now. 396 00:21:39,982 --> 00:21:41,099 I think I'll go home. 397 00:21:41,099 --> 00:21:43,502 I think I'll stop loving you. 398 00:21:43,502 --> 00:21:46,488 I have a four year old son, Casey, 399 00:21:46,488 --> 00:21:48,390 and a few months back he asked me one question. 400 00:21:48,390 --> 00:21:50,425 You say data, 401 00:21:50,425 --> 00:21:53,428 do you love me when I disobey? 402 00:21:53,845 --> 00:21:55,380 Do you love me when I disobey? 403 00:21:55,380 --> 00:21:57,082 What was he asking? 404 00:21:57,082 --> 00:21:58,250 He was asking me how. 405 00:21:58,250 --> 00:22:00,652 Dad, how strong is your love? 406 00:22:00,652 --> 00:22:03,622 And the fear he had was that the strength of his sin 407 00:22:03,622 --> 00:22:06,958 was greater than the strength of my love. 408 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:09,378 Why in the world 409 00:22:10,462 --> 00:22:11,630 does this Psalm repeat the 410 00:22:11,630 --> 00:22:15,384 same phrase 26 times? 411 00:22:16,401 --> 00:22:17,369 26 times? 412 00:22:17,369 --> 00:22:19,338 When was the last time someone told you anything? 413 00:22:19,338 --> 00:22:23,191 3 or 4 times outside of us telling you to go to 8:00 service? 414 00:22:23,191 --> 00:22:26,178 But anyways. 415 00:22:27,512 --> 00:22:29,297 Because it's not sinking in 416 00:22:29,297 --> 00:22:32,300 for some reason, there is a clog that we have, 417 00:22:32,567 --> 00:22:36,538 and I'm deeply convinced that the greatest fear in the human heart 418 00:22:37,039 --> 00:22:40,225 is that we will lose the love of God's heart, 419 00:22:41,059 --> 00:22:43,428 the greatest fear that each of us 420 00:22:43,428 --> 00:22:46,431 have, that at some point we will lose the love 421 00:22:46,581 --> 00:22:50,519 that is in God's heart, especially in our lowest moments. 422 00:22:51,570 --> 00:22:53,672 If you are here and you find yourself in a season 423 00:22:53,672 --> 00:22:57,142 of suffering like that in Egypt, you are probably wondering, I wonder, 424 00:22:57,692 --> 00:23:00,679 I wonder what God's love endure this. 425 00:23:01,313 --> 00:23:04,316 If you find yourself in a season like the wilderness 426 00:23:04,549 --> 00:23:07,586 and you are caught up in sin again, that is entangle you. 427 00:23:08,186 --> 00:23:08,987 I'm sure you're wondering. 428 00:23:08,987 --> 00:23:11,990 I wonder if God's love will endure this 429 00:23:12,841 --> 00:23:16,578 if you were even facing significant enemies of God. 430 00:23:16,912 --> 00:23:20,282 If you're under attack again, say, if you're even looking the enemy of death 431 00:23:20,482 --> 00:23:23,602 and it is coming close for you or a loved one, you're probably wondering, 432 00:23:24,469 --> 00:23:26,822 Will the love of God last forever 433 00:23:28,073 --> 00:23:30,392 or just a long time? 434 00:23:30,392 --> 00:23:33,211 It is the most common fear of the human heart 435 00:23:33,211 --> 00:23:36,198 to doubt the love that is in God's heart. 436 00:23:36,898 --> 00:23:40,168 And I'm convinced the reason 26 times 437 00:23:40,502 --> 00:23:43,221 this phrase, steadfast love is repeated. 438 00:23:43,221 --> 00:23:46,608 It's repeated so much because it is believed by 439 00:23:46,608 --> 00:23:49,611 you and me so little. 440 00:23:50,028 --> 00:23:53,031 A few years back there was a hurricane, Hurricane Ike, 441 00:23:53,632 --> 00:23:56,368 and it hit the state of Texas really hard. 442 00:23:56,368 --> 00:23:59,187 And I found this picture that's really stuck with me. 443 00:23:59,187 --> 00:24:02,190 And it really captures Psalm 136. 444 00:24:03,108 --> 00:24:06,111 You see the devastated the entire community. 445 00:24:06,261 --> 00:24:09,448 Every single house is absolutely demolished. 446 00:24:09,798 --> 00:24:12,868 But there is one house that remains, 447 00:24:13,585 --> 00:24:16,621 and I can't think of a better picture of the steadfast 448 00:24:16,621 --> 00:24:19,608 love of God for us. 449 00:24:20,575 --> 00:24:22,527 If you are in a season 450 00:24:22,527 --> 00:24:25,847 and you're wondering if the winds of your sin are strong enough 451 00:24:26,097 --> 00:24:29,100 to blow over the love of God, the answer is no. 452 00:24:29,634 --> 00:24:32,454 If you're in a season of suffering where the waves just seem like 453 00:24:32,454 --> 00:24:35,874 they are too tall, they're going to knock over the house of God's love. 454 00:24:35,874 --> 00:24:38,093 The answer is no. 455 00:24:38,093 --> 00:24:41,179 The steadfast love of God. 456 00:24:41,179 --> 00:24:42,747 It endures all suffering. 457 00:24:42,747 --> 00:24:44,599 It endures all sin. 458 00:24:44,599 --> 00:24:46,801 It endures all storms. 459 00:24:49,371 --> 00:24:51,590 The weight of gratitude, 460 00:24:51,590 --> 00:24:53,909 the weight of gratitude. 461 00:24:53,909 --> 00:24:55,560 It's not by looking around us at the life 462 00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:59,514 that we have or don't have, by looking at our God, 463 00:24:59,848 --> 00:25:03,685 look up at his character and to realize that it is his goodness 464 00:25:04,586 --> 00:25:07,289 that is strong and his love that is perfect. 465 00:25:07,289 --> 00:25:11,393 We look back and his actions, and we look back at every old picture of God. 466 00:25:11,393 --> 00:25:14,396 And we realize from the beginning through today, 467 00:25:14,729 --> 00:25:17,782 he has only acted in one way with his steadfast love. 468 00:25:18,717 --> 00:25:21,319 And so, more than anything else, you can know. 469 00:25:21,319 --> 00:25:26,458 I can know in Christ Jesus there is absolutely nothing 470 00:25:26,725 --> 00:25:29,728 that can take us away from the love of God. 471 00:25:29,961 --> 00:25:32,964 So let me end with verse 26 472 00:25:32,998 --> 00:25:37,252 and tell you for the 27th time, give thanks to the God of heaven, 473 00:25:37,702 --> 00:25:41,756 for his steadfast love endures forever. 474 00:25:42,324 --> 00:25:44,726 Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for 475 00:25:46,711 --> 00:25:49,247 this Psalm. 476 00:25:49,247 --> 00:25:50,398 And, I pray that 477 00:25:50,398 --> 00:25:54,986 in this morning, God, you would you would surface our fear in our life 478 00:25:55,020 --> 00:25:58,823 that that somehow, in some way, your love will stop, 479 00:26:00,208 --> 00:26:03,211 that at some point, you will just grow tired of us. 480 00:26:03,828 --> 00:26:07,015 And God, thank you that we know with confidence 481 00:26:07,616 --> 00:26:10,252 that it is in and through Jesus 482 00:26:10,252 --> 00:26:14,990 that we have your love, God, and to know you personally, 483 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:20,095 that we can trust that we will experience your love eternally. 484 00:26:20,812 --> 00:26:23,815 I pray that you would cement that in our hearts and our minds. 485 00:26:24,082 --> 00:26:27,185 This Thanksgiving. In Jesus name, Amen.